Make your own SNS/ Lact-Aid? - Page 2

[Laurel]

Re: straining supplement

I just had another thought about not straining the supplement--it wouldn't work with the SNS, only with the lact-aid. I have a really good system for cleaning my lact-aids, and I think that's why I get away with not straining. However, my system would not work for the SNS. I had a hard time getting the SNS clean even when I was using ready-to-feed.

Here's my cleaning system if anyone is interested. I keep three small bins of distilled water (about 1-inch deep) on my counter. One has Ivory soap in it, and into that bin I put each lact-aid unit as soon as I've finished using it. When I'm ready to clean them all, I put the second bin in the microwave for 2 minutes. When the water is hot enough, I put a little Ivory soap in that one and transfer all of the soaking lact-aids into it. I use the little bulb syringe to clean them. Then I heat the water in bin #3 for 2 minutes. When it's done, I rinse all the lact-aids (using the syringe) in that water while it's still very hot. I also replace the water from bin #1 (the soaking bin) with clean water and heat that for 2 minutes, then do a second rinse of all the lact-aids. The bin that is now soapy becomes my new soaking bin, and I repeat the whole system. So each unit gets one cleaning and two rinses in very hot water. It sounds complicated, but I can do it pretty quickly and efficiently.

I have never had a tube clog. Only twice have I had any dried supplement on the side of a tube, and all it took to fix that was to soak the tube longer and go through the wash and rinse process again. I have never noticed any build-up on the sides of my tubes.

(The SNS was a different story...)

[twinsarefun]

I'm glad you brought that up. When I have SNS tube clogs, I would boil water with vinegar and a little soap. I would then turn off the burner and put in my containers and tubes to soak. After soaking for a little bit, I would put the hot water in the container and then squeeze the mixture through the tube. If needed, I would lightly run my nail along side the tube to inch the gook out. I follow the Lact-Aid's directions about adding a little extra water to make the formula run easier through the tube. That is why I put in an extra 1/2 c. water to my batch that I make. That is equal to the amount that Lact-Aid recommends for doing that. When I didn't do all of this, I used to have a problem also. I also had the problem with the Lact-Aid. I would do the same for cleaning the tubes with the Lact-Aid except I would use the syringe to clean out the tubes.